I must admit that it was a little strange waking up on Christmas (well, Christmas Eve first) in a hostel across the world in a foreign country surrounded by strangers (and Amy and Anna). Usually my entire life leading up to Christmas is completely consumed by the consumerism of Christmas that I am not allowed to forget for a second that it is almost Christmas time. Christmas music is blaring from every direction, constant commercials and movies, Christmas shopping and decorating, Christmas parties and celebration with families and work and school. Really, it is exhausting. Call me Scrooge, but I hate Christmas. I actually hate just about everything about Christmas. I love getting together with my family and an excuse to eat a ton of delicious food, gain a couple extra pounds and call it “holiday weight” with the delusion that it will magically melt away before the new year so that I can put on some sassy little dress, go to a lame party, pay way too much for booze and kiss someone (usually my best friend) at midnight. Ok, Ok, last year the holidays were awesome, but I think it is because I knew that I was leaving so I didn’t waste my time on the lame stuff (like a NYE party) and spent my energy spending time with the people that I care about.
Anyway, so like I was saying, I hate Christmas. I hate having to go to a bazillion parties and the pressure of buying gifts, and all the money and time and energy that goes into the consumer aspect of Christmas. Come on people, you have to admit that we have clearly lost sight of what Christmas is really about…
Anyway, I won’t bore you with a rant (more than I already have). The point is that this year was different. Sure, we had a work party, and I had to buy just a couple gifts for white elephant and secret Santa, but it was really nothing. In my class, we focused on the seasons and weather and snow more than we focused on holidays and celebrations (even thought there is no snow). Additionally, knowing that I wasn’t going home to see my family and that I wasn’t going to be knee deep in snow freezing my buns off didn’t make it seem any closer to Christmas than I am closer to the moon. The idea of spending my holiday on a beach in southern Asia made if feel more like Spring Break than Christmas break…
Waking up that morning was just like every other morning. It was hot and humid as ever! Rainy of course, and we began our day downstairs eating toast and a hardboiled egg provided by the hostel and some fruit that we had bought at the market. We had decided that we were going to attempt to explore again and had plans for a nice dinner that evening to celebrate Christmas together. Since we were going to be spending Christmas day on a bus, we were going to do most of our celebrating Christmas Eve.
Anyway, after breakfast, we got ready, and headed to a bridge that Anna had read about that was supposedly one of the top ten bridges in the world to visit. It was called Henderson Wave and it was supposed to have the illusion of walking across waves. Well it looked neat from a distance, but once we got onto the bridge, it was a lot different than we thought. The architecture was interesting but I think it would have looked more interesting at night because apparently it had artistic lighting. Well, we came, we saw, we left.
We headed on a hike through the mountains and ended up at the cable car that took us on a scenic ride from the mainland of Singapore onto the smaller island of Santosa. We were not exactly interested in the island itself because it was apparently comparable to Orlando, Florida, but it was the only place that we could get a little beach action, and I wanted nothing more than a little beach action on Christmas!
Well, people did not lie… as soon as we stepped off the cable car, it was like stepping into Florida… children everywhere, gift shops, water park, rides, people with birds charging to take pictures and everything else. We made our way to the giant Merlion that was supposed to be some kind of Singapore Symbol, took a couple pictures and headed to the beach. Unfortunately it was cooler and (you guessed it) rainy, but we were able to walk around for a bit before heading back.
(on the cable car)
(view of the bay from the cable car flying into Santosa)
(Merlion in Santosa)
(Merry Christmas from the beaches of Santosa)
That night, we got dressed up in our cutest dresses and made plans for some delicious Thai food at a place around the corner from our hostel that an Australian expat recommended as the best! Before heading out, Anna began talking to an Italian guy named Luca. The night before when we were making a rucous in the hostel social area we had invited Luca to hang out with us but he declined saying that he had something important to do. As we were cleaning up and heading to bed, he apologized to me and said that he would have joined us if he didn’t have something important to do. He was rather cute, so I forgave him and suggested that he hang out with us tomorrow night to make it up to us! Luca was traveling alone and was just stopping Singapore for a couple nights before meeting up with his dad in Vietnam. We invited him to come along with us for our Christmas dinner. Then while we waited outside with a couple drinks before dinner, our French friend from the night before showed up and we also invited him. Luckily Italian boy also spoke French, so he and Frenchy got along great because Frenchy was not so confident with his English ability.
So anyway, everytime that we would get ready to leave for dinner, Frenchy (who we still couldn’t pronounce his name) would run away because he had to do something… get cigarettes, beer, then find a liter, then change his clothes…this is why we started calling him Scat because he was scattered. Then every time Scat would return, Luca would leave to make a phone call, or change his clothes or go get a beer. It was rather exhausting trying to keep up with those two, and by 9:00pm, I was absolutely starving. I attributed their carefree attention to time to their European background, and eventually we made it to dinner before my stomach completely ate itself.
Dinner was delish! Thai hot pot with tons of shrimp and chicken and squid and veggies to cook over a Thai BBQ plus curry and paitai and rice and noodles. OMG I am salivating just remembering our meal! After dinner, we grabbed some beers and went back to our hostel to hang out on the patio.
(Thai hot pot - Christmas Eve dinner)
Now, our hostel and some really cool people – the girls that we met, and the two guys, but it also have some real creepers. There were these two old men that we basically living at the hostel. To be honest, I don’t even remember their names but one was from LA and the other from Dubai (not India, but Dubai and he was definitely NOT Muslim as he kept reminding us). Anyway, these two guys wondered around the hostel of young backpackers on the prowl literally trying to pick up everyone. It was entertaining to watch, but not so much once I became a target. Somehow, I got stuck in some deep conversation with the 40 year old Dubai guy about how important virginity is to the Muslim culture. Really buddy? I am trying to get my drink on and enjoy my Christmas!
At midnight, we did a cheers and wished everyone a very Merry Christmas… everyone else sat inside on their laptops and computers and barely turned in our direction when we shouted Merry Christmas to everyone – how very UNmerry!
I was really sad to say goodbye to our new friends Luca and Scat! They were so much fun and a fantastic addition to our little family for Christmas dinner. We became friends on facebook, and I am hoping that we keep in touch. One of my favorite things about traveling is meeting new people. Honestly, when you end up in a place like Singapore on Christmas in a backpackers budget hostel, you have no idea who you are going to meet, but you can guarantee that you will meet someone fun and interesting – it just takes certain kinds of people to end up in that situation. Everyone has an interesting story to tell. Also, you gain friends around the world. Now I know that when I end up in Belgium and Italy, I have friends that I can visit or consult in.
That night we went to bed late and prepared for our long journey the next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment